Traditional Festival?

[chenyswhite]

Do you know today is Chinese traditional dragon boat festival?

Do you have eat Zongzi?

Do you like it?

[Wurstmann]

Yes, I know about it. I don't like fatty meat and don't care much for those with dates or other sweat fillings, but luckily my wife's aunt made some 粽子 with lean meat for me. 

[abcdefg]

I'm in Macau right now, attending the Dragon Boat Races 赛龙舟。 Will post some snapshots of it this evening.

 

Before I left Kunming, it was all buzzing with zongzi 粽子 sales left and right. At the wet market many vendors, large and small, were making them on the spot and selling them fresh. You could also buy the leaves to make them yourself at home. The supermarkets had multiple displays, fresh and frozen.

 

I usually buy some the last day, when they are marked down to half price. This year I bought a pretty gift box of a dozen for the night watchman and his wife. They had invited me to a family gathering to celebrate the wife's birthday a few days earlier.

 

 

 

Ones with lean and savory Yunnan Ham are very popular here. 宣威火腿。Here you see a fierce green dragon about to bite the head off a young lady who is restocking the display unaware of her peril.

[Alex_Hart]

Been munching on them all week - my girlfriend's mother sent us two dozen homemade ones. Her hometown in western Zhejiang apparently has three local specialty 粽子, and her mom made some of each for us to try. The first is a spicy (unusual for Zhejiang) meat which I cannot eat (vegetarian) so shared with classmates - it got pretty rave reviews since most of them had only ever had store-bought zongzi. The second one is their version of 豆沙 , haven't quite gotten why it's different from other 豆沙 but I'm to understand 豆沙 in 粽子 is rather weird here in 浙江. The last one, and my favorite, is made with their hometown 梅干菜. My girlfriend's grandmother makes the 梅干菜 every year to have it ready just before 端午节, and the 粽子 are absolutely delicious. Everybody in the family gets a huge bag of 梅干菜  and 冬瓜干 for 端午节 from the grandma, and a bag of 粽子 from my girlfriend's mother.

 

Here in Hangzhou, there were several neighborhood "community center" type events where they laid out all the goodies to make zongzi on several tables. People who lived in the neighborhood could walk over and an 阿姨 would teach you how to make them, then leave you to it. Was sadly unable to go, but looked like fun!

 

Looking forward to Macau pics, abcd!

[iekkim]

My waipo used to give my family those and it's absolutely divine! I like the ones with the meat but I don't think I have ever tasted a sweet version. We used to put a lot of Sriracha on it. In my country, we call it Machang and this really reminds me of Kiam Peng ((we speak hokkien in the PH) 鹽飯 -> I'm guessing that's what it is in Chinese because in hokkien, Kiam Peng means salty rice... ) that my dad makes, absolutely divine!

[Chris Two Times]

端午节安康！

[艾墨本]

I love reading about the traditions in different areas.

 

Here in Gansu, Tianshui there is a unique situation; most all the 粽子 that are sold on the streets are made by the large 回民 population here. I don't know how they stomach this while also practicing Ramadan, but they do. Some of the 粽子 are filled with red dates 红枣 or red bean 豆沙, but the most common ones have nothing inside of them. Most people seem to enjoy eating 粽子 topped with honey, and lots of it. I love this tradition and eat it the same way. I haven't seen or heard of anyone eating or making 粽子 with meat inside of it here, this seems more of a southerner tradition.

 

While I didn't see it myself (because grading papers, yay!), a local tradition is to climb to the top of a mountain in the morning and drink some morning dew from the leaves. Don't quote me on this as authoritative because I was gleaning this from a man's explanation who was speaking very fast. Fortunately, his daughter had some questions about the traditions so I was able to get more from her than him. She was confused about how to actually get the dew from the leaf to the mouth. Answer: put it on your hand and lick it. A little bit is enough. Like many traditions in China, this will bring you good luck. 

 

I was lucky enough to enjoy some homemade 粽子 with the family mentioned above. The little girl and her mom made them. They were "black rice" 粽子, but upon opening them I found that they were actually white rice with a little bit of red bean that turned the whole thing purple. Made from a very light savory taste that went great with the honey I poured on top. 

[chenyswhite]

@Wurstmann Yes, I  also don‘t like those sweet taste. But the zongzi with meat  are very delicious!

[chenyswhite]

@abcdefg Interesting~

It seems like  there are many different flavors. 

What about the dragon boat? 

[chenyswhite]

@艾墨本 Different areas  have their own unique culture, which is very interesting. 

You have been to many places and know a lot.

[abcdefg]

I attended the Macau Dragon Boat Races 赛龙舟澳门。They just concluded. Here are some snapshots.

 

 

 

 

Teams from several other countries were represented in addition to China, Hong Kong and Macau: I saw Thailand and Myanmar for sure, plus maybe Singapore. Very lively, with enthusiastic crowds. Refreshments were available (which included zongzi 粽子) and some teams even had cute cheerleaders 拉拉队 to shout 加油, wave pompoms and dance.

 

The team from Jiujiang (Jiangxi) 江西九江 had the best overall times.

[lakesandrivers]

On 6/1/2017 at 9:07 AM, abcdefg said:

cute cheerleaders 拉拉队

 

Did not have them in all the Singaporean, Sydney nor Melbourne races! Why is that. Why. I demand answers.

[abcdefg]

Some of the teams of racers were sponsored by big Macau casinos. Wynn had one, as did MGM and Starworld. These sponsored teams had the best rehearsed and prettiest cheerleaders too! 

[lakesandrivers]

2 minutes ago, abcdefg said:

best rehearsed and prettiest cheerleaders too! 

 

I really, really want to continue training 龙舟 in China. No, not for the reason quoted. Not at all.